MATTHEW 3 — WHEN GOD CALLS YOU INTO THE WILDERNESS OF TRANSFORMATION

December 4, 2025

There is a moment in every believer’s life when God stops speaking to us where we are… and starts calling us into a place we didn’t expect. Scripture often names that place “the wilderness.” It's the quiet space between who you were and who you're becoming. It’s the open land where God strips away the noise, the assumptions, the masks, and every version of yourself that can’t walk into your future.

Matthew 3 is a chapter built entirely on this idea.

Not the flashy place.
Not the powerful place.
Not the comfortable place.

But the right place—the place where God prepares you.

And nowhere is that clearer than in the figure of John the Baptist, a man who lived a life so radically different, so unapologetically obedient, that he became the bridge between the old world and the arrival of Jesus Himself.

Today, we walk through this chapter not just as observers but as participants—because Matthew 3 isn’t only history. It is the blueprint for transformation, purification, calling, identity, and surrender.

And if you read it slowly—if you let it breathe in your chest—you’ll discover something astonishing

Jesus did not begin His ministry in the spotlight.
He began it in the wilderness.

So today, let’s step into that wilderness with Him.

THE WILDERNESS IS WHERE GOD CALLS YOU WHEN THE WORLD CAN NO LONGER SHAPE YOU

Matthew 3 opens with a shocking detail: John the Baptist is preaching far away from the temples, the cities, and the centers of influence.

He wasn’t in Jerusalem.
He wasn’t in the courts of power.
He wasn’t among the elite.

He was in the wilderness—yet Israel came to him.

They left their routines, their traditions, their comfort, and their definitions of “religion” to find a man who wasn’t even trying to be found.

Because when the Spirit of God rests upon someone, people hunger for what they carry.

John didn’t need a stage.
He didn’t need approval.
He didn’t need status.

He needed obedience.

And when obedience becomes your oxygen, God becomes your platform.

There is a holy discomfort in this truth: God often prepares His vessels far from where people expect greatness to be born. The wilderness is not the punishment; it is the classroom of destiny.

Many people fear the wilderness because it feels like isolation. But heaven sees it as concentration.

God calls you there to cut away what you’ve outgrown, to awaken the voice you forgot you had, and to introduce you to the version of yourself that He always saw—even when you didn’t.

And when God calls you into the wilderness… it is never to leave you there.
It is to meet you there.

JOHN'S MESSAGE WAS SIMPLE—BUT IT SHATTERED THE WORLD

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Repent—not as a sentence of shame, but as an invitation to return to who you were meant to be.

The word “repent” doesn’t mean grovel. It doesn’t mean self-loathing. It doesn’t mean drowning in regret.

It means:

Turn around.
Come back home.
Change direction.
Walk toward the light that is already pursuing you.

This message wasn’t cruel. It wasn’t condemning. It wasn’t meant to crush the spirit. It was a call to awaken the spirit.

John’s voice cracked open a nation because he spoke the truth people had been starving for:

“You are not stuck where you are.
God is closer than you think.
Your story can change.”

That message shook the religious establishment—not because John was wrong, but because he was right.

THE PEOPLE CAME BECAUSE THEY WANTED TRANSFORMATION, NOT RELIGIOUS RITUAL

Israel didn’t walk miles into the wilderness because they wanted better rituals.

They weren’t looking for tradition.
They weren’t trying to check a box.
They weren’t trying to impress anybody.

They wanted change.

They lined up at the Jordan River because something inside them whispered:

“There’s more.
There has to be more.
My soul knows it.”

And the river became a symbol of cleansing—not just from sin, but from heaviness, old identity, and spiritual exhaustion.

What a picture for us today.

People aren’t craving better productions in church.
They aren’t craving louder sermons.
They aren’t craving more complicated theology.

They crave what the crowds craved at the Jordan:

Authenticity.
Healing.
Identity.
A fresh start.

This is why your life, your testimony, and your voice matter more than you think. When people see someone authentically transformed, they want to know the God responsible for the transformation.

You don’t need perfection to inspire others—just honesty.

THE RELIGIOUS LEADERS MISSED THE POINT—AND MANY STILL DO

The Pharisees and Sadducees showed up, too—not to repent, but to inspect.

They didn’t come to change.
They came to critique.

And John confronts them with fire:

“Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.”

In other words:

“You want the reputation of righteousness without the transformation of righteousness.”

Religion without repentance is pride.
Repentance without fruit is performance.
Fruit without Jesus is impossible.

John reminds them—and us—that heritage doesn’t save you. Titles don’t save you. Appearances don’t save you.

God is not impressed by spiritual posturing.

He is moved by surrender.

This moment is a warning for every generation:

You can be near the things of God and miss the heart of God.
You can know Scripture but not know the Savior.
You can talk about holiness but never taste freedom.

Transformation begins with humility.
Humility begins with repentance.
Repentance begins with invitation.

And Jesus always answers an invitation.

THE MESSIAH ARRIVES—AND EVERYTHING CHANGES

The most staggering moment of Matthew 3 arrives quietly:

“Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him.”

Pause and feel the weight of that.

Jesus—the sinless One.
Jesus—the spotless Lamb.
Jesus—the Son of the Living God.

He steps into the water and asks John to baptize Him.

Not because He needed cleansing—but because we did.

Jesus enters the waters of repentance so that one day we could enter the waters of redemption.

He joins humanity in the act of surrender so humanity can join Him in the victory of resurrection.

This is the humility of God on display.

John is stunned.
He protests.
He tries to reverse the roles.

But Jesus answers with one of the most important phrases in Scripture:

“Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”

Jesus isn’t just being baptized.
He is stepping into His mission.
He is identifying with the broken, the weary, the seeking.

He is showing us that the path to glory begins with obedience, not applause.

THE HEAVENS OPEN—AND GOD SPEAKS OVER HIS SON

As Jesus rises from the water, the heavens tear open.

The Spirit descends like a dove.
The Father’s voice breaks across the sky.

And the most beautiful affirmation in human history is spoken:

“This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Before Jesus performs a miracle.
Before He teaches a sermon.
Before He heals the sick.
Before He walks on water.
Before He goes to the cross.

God declares:

“You are My beloved.
I am already pleased with You.”

Identity precedes assignment.
Love precedes labor.
Belonging precedes purpose.

And God speaks the same truth over you.

You are not working for God’s love.
You are working from it.

You are not earning worth.
You were born with it.

God’s pleasure is not the reward for performance—it is the starting point for transformation.

MATTHEW 3 IS YOUR INVITATION TO STEP INTO YOUR OWN TRANSFORMATION

This chapter invites you to:

Leave the noise and step into your wilderness.
Let God carve clarity out of confusion.
Let repentance become the doorway to renewal.
Let the river wash off what life has tried to attach to you.
Let Jesus meet you at the waterline of surrender.
Let the Spirit rest upon you.
Let the Father speak identity over you again.

Because the moment you receive this truth—not just read it, but receive it—your life begins to change:

You stop living for approval and start living from identity.
You stop dragging your past into your future.
You stop apologizing for your calling.
You stop resisting transformation and begin walking in it.

And just like Jesus, you rise from those waters ready for what comes next.